Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1887-03-24
COOK cANvAss,No.
How tho willy Agent Acquires the son
Biandixhments Which Insure Success

his portfolio on an adjacent desk, while
he presented his autograph album and
produced pen and ink from secret
recess in his vest. Nov let me tell YOU
that gall is not such pre-eminent in
gredient in book canvasser's makeup
as you and q great many other persons
seem to imagine. Our first lessons are
taken from the Bible. which teaches
meekness and humility. A real book
canvasser never loses his temper; he
never gets angry; he never argues /;
but he gradually leads the conversation
into pleasant channels. and makes life
as agreeable and enjoyable to all around
him as he possibly can. The only re-
sistsance true canvasser will make to
anybody is when his calling is i'm
peached. He is early taught to stand
up for the honor OF his calling. in spite
of all that may be told him of it. There
are black sheep in every flock. and all
men should not be held responsible for
the sins of few.
1.-The best way. though, to illustrate
our teachings is to tell you how we
work-and all we do comes out of our
course of study. as You call it-our
book of instructions. rs we call it. We
depend Oh ourselves to the largest pos
sible extent. Sometimes We have a
helper, that is, a gentleman or lady of
a certain ncighborhood who. in consid-
GRAFTON OF a free copy Of the book. IN
Produces us to certain people, but the
great trouble about helpers is that they
insist on talking and recommending
your work after Introducing You. there
by displaying their interest and injur-
ing your prospects. 1t is harder to
keep the helpers quiet than to get
along without them. SO choose not to
have them. The power of influence
we. of course, fully recognize-but it
is the influence of example by leaders
either in society or business. For this
reason we are always glad to have
good names to show = some names
in the building. in the block or
in the immediate neighborhood.
On approaching a gentleman
whose subscription we desire to secure
we have several things to consider.
and l shall mention them in their
order. We generally ascertain the
gcntleman's name. and we make it a
point never to forget name once ac-
quired. It is pleasanter and more eff
fective to call man by his name
when you meet him the first time be-
cause it makes him feel that his inn
portance is appreciated. and that his
fame is not confined to his family and
immediate friends. After meeting
him we look him squarely in the eye.
and, without staring him. hold him rs
the ancient mariner held his friend
with his gittering orb. There is great
power in the human eye. and. besides,
it shows that you are not doing any
thing that you are ashamed of. If the
person is engaged, or ''too busy" we
try to make an appointment for some
other time. If We are canvass.n~ in
families and there are children present,
we notice them and say nice things
about their looks or comment on their
resemblance to the head of the house.
1.-The next thing after securing at
tcntion is to create :: desire on the part
Of the person to see what you've got,
for desire must preccde demand. That
is another of our aXioms. We never
show our books until we have created
the necessary desire. You may have
observed that tried to keep my port
folio hidden by the flap of my overcoat.
When we do show our book we Go not
let it 60 out of our hands, but begin
ming at the cover, we explain all its
good points. putting our descriptions
into the best words we can master. We
keep cool, do not hurry; are concise
and direc: in our language. and try
never to weary or worry our customer.
Then we secure the order. As soon as
the customer shows signs of yielding.
VIC have pen and ink ready-we always
carry ink-and obtain his sigma
ture while his mood is favorable.
After getting the signature we keep
away from the subscriber until we are
ready to deliver the book. and the de-
livery is made at time when we know
the subscriber has money-when he
gets his salary if a working-man, and
after harvest if he lives in the country.
Objections? Oh, gracious, yes, we
hear plenty of objections. We are
taught to expect them. and We train
ourselves to meet and answer them.
In doing this we aim to be pleasant:
and happy without being Extensively
smart. and we avoid. as far as possible.
direct answers or labored arguments.
Agents who are afraid to depend on
their own facilities insuch emergencies
have a manual from which they may
study and memorize answers to the or
binary objections which are offered. -
st. Louis Globe Democrat.
The influence Of Environment.
Rev. Thomas Bridges. a missionary
in TERRA del Fuego, in the large island